The Difference Between Passion and Desire
Envy smiled while exiting the flower shop that she now worked at. Time to visit the dumbass. She had her purse over one shoulder while walking to the residence of Nori and Tereya. This should be interesting. Awakening "Nori?... Hey, Nori! Snap out of it!... god...DAMN it..." In the blackness of unconsciousness, Tereya's voice repeatedly kept calling him, apparently in an attempt to stir him out of the darkness he had been so forcibly pulled in. There seemed to be no agony, no pain... just irritation. There wasn't even the scent of her blood, or the presence of her arm in his hand. Nori didn't move. Ignoring her was nice. He couldn't feel anything; there was no pain, no fear, no hurt; nothing. It was wonderful. He would never have to worry about anything ever again; all at the price of never being happy, never being joyful, or never experiencing the good emotions again. But if it mant never being sad, or angry, or worried again, he could deal with that. Nothing was nice. Nori wanted to stay in nothing. That is, until Tereya's annoyance began to show its true colors. SLAP! Nori groaned. Why was she trying to pull him out of this? After what he went through that night, why wouldn't she let him get a good sleep for a while. Besides, it was her fault that she couldn't control her own Hollow; Not Nori's. He should be mad at her for being so weak. All of the emotions and opinions he was displaying was ruining Nori's nothingness. "If you don't open your eyes, I'm going to find some cold fucking water to dunk your head in." Tereya snapped. Despite the nightmare, she herself had gotten a bit of a good sleep, as always. After all, she had lived with such things ever since her Hollow had torture her. If she could get through it... why couldn't he? "And I know where a river is." "That's great. Do you know where a store is, too? Because then you could get me my fucking coffee..." The reply had undoubtably come from Nori, who refused to move or open his eyes. But he was awake. Eye twitching, Tereya raised her hand in a slow manner before rapping him across the face once again. "Shut up. I'm not your maid." She stated bluntly, sitting down cross-legged beside him. "And if you sleep like that for too long, you're gonna be bitching about how achy your back is." "Why? It's your fucking fault I'm so tired, anyway..." He grumbled. Shifting himself into a sitting position, Nori finally opened his eyes. He was actually somewhat afraid to look around. "Am I actually awake, or is this another..?" "No, this time, you're awake." Tereya assured him, folding her arms across her chest. "Otherwise, the scenery'd be mure fucked up. Take a look around, Romeo." "Maybe she's just letting us get comfortable before she mindfucks us again... How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Romeo?" Nori growled, turning to Tereya. He wanted to slap her very badly. "I don't know, you tell me." Tereya's smirk was all too clear. "I'd count, but I'd lose track." The very fact on how he was looking at her only fueled her amusement, and so, she didn't allow herself to tense up at the glare he was sending her way. Nori swung his arm at Tereya. It was obvious she would catch it, or dodge, or something. But still! If he didn't, it would hurt! And, of course, she raised her own hand to block the blow at the wrist, though the blow stung as the back of his hand hit it. She paid it no heed; it was no killing blow. "Now, if you're done PMSing, there's somewhere I was planning on going today." She stated, a serious edge to her tone once more. "And I was wondering if you wanted to come along." "Huh? No, I can't. I'm busy." He retorted sarcasticly, leaning back against the wooden slab they were sitting on. Busy with nothing... "With what?" Tereya scooted over beside him for a moment, just to revel in his annoyance. "Your beauty sleep? Because I thought you had enough of that while I had left." Nori averted his gaze. "Where are you going?" He asked non-chalantly. Immediately, a flash of what looked like stiffness passed through Tereya's body, before she too averted her own gaze. "Just to speak to some lost friends of mine." She replied coolly. She brought one of her stretched out legs to a bent position, resting her arm on it. "It's been a while now, and they ain't too busy with God to come hear me out." "Oh..." Nori mumbled. She had to pull the guilt trip on him, didn't she?! She could have just said in the first place 'hey come with me to go see my dead friends' graves!', noooo. She had to act like it wasn't somewhere important, then drop it on him. What a bitch. "Fine... Let's go..." "Hey, don't get the wrong idea." The woman warned, turning her gaze to narrow her eyes at him. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I was just saying..." She slowly picked herself off of the ground, dusting herself off. "No. I'll come." Nori assured her, stepping off of the 'bed' and onto the ground. "I'm not doing anything else today; there's no reason for me not to. Unless you don't want me to come..." "If you insist..." She took in a deep breath, before shoving her hands into her pockets. "Good thing we ended up here, of all places. We're close to it." She grinned, walking way from Nori and into the direction of where it was presumed to be the gravesite. "That way we won't have to walk too far, lazyass." "Good... Because the last time we tried to go for a walk, you went on your period and your Inner Hollow came out..." He grumbled. Would this trigger it again? Going to the site where she and her friends were tortured because of their hollowfication...? "If it happens this time, I'm not going to save you. Since I'm such a girl." "Whatever you say, Princess." "Oh... Maybe I should just defile all of your friends' graves? Would you like that?" She stopped in her tracks. Surely, the man was joking; he couldn't possess that kind of dishonor. Her body stiffened, but she didn't allow herself to turn around. "You'd better not..." She said venemously. "You dare, and I'll tear you apart one piece at a time." She continued to walk away from him. "I don't let family get fucked up like that." He followed after her swiftly. "You can try. But in the end it won't matter; the gravesite will still be fucked up, and there won't be a single thing ''you can do about it." Nori taunted. This is what she got for making fun of him every chance she got. Would he actually destroy the gravesite? With how he was feeling right now, there was a very high chance that he would. "You want to try me?" She spun around on her heel, body tensing out of guard. "After what that bitch did to me, I'm in a mood to start bathing in blood." She declared, her hawk-like eyes staring off into the ones of her husband-to-be. "You want to be the first ones that run down the drain? Be my fucking guest." It didn't matter to her if it was a joke or not. What this man was currently doing was threatening the dignity of what had been her family. Even if they were now deceased, she would fight to defend them in the case of danger. Her loyalty did run deep, once it found a good enough hole to dig itself in. Nori flinched. "Whatever, let's just go. It's not like I've done it already. You have to get so mad." He said cautiously, looking away and shrugging off her glare. She didn't have to be such a bitch all the time. Maybe he would do it; ''just for fun, too see how she reacted. And experiment! I seemed exciting. And if she really loved him, she would forgive him anyway. Even better, maybe he could fish their rotten corpses from the ground. He wanted to see what Tereya's friends looked like. Tereya scoffed, turning back around and walking off. "Whatever." She said irritably, the amusement gone from her voice. However, her body posture immediately relaxing. "You'd better be joking, or else you're going to find yourself permanently dead." He still followed after her. "What makes you think you can catch me?" Nori taunted. It wasn't like she'd be able to stop him before he used Kogeru and disappeared. "It isn't like I'm killing your friends' who are alive. They're already'' dead''." "It's the same thing as taking a giant shit on them when they're alive." "Not really. They've all decomposed by now." That was it. Immediately, Tereya whirled back around, fury glazing her eyes once more. "I do not care!" She snarled, swinging her hand horizontally in a frustrated manner. "I buried them right there where they are, and that's where they're going to stay! I don't care how strong or fast you are - if you lay a hand on even the worms, I'll kill you where you stand!" Nori grabbed her wrist before her hand could reach him. "Calm down... I'm only joking... But if you're one of those people who can make fun of people, but then can't stand it when people poke fun of you, stop making fun of me." He growled, then released her arm, letting her do as she pleased. "I won't do anything. Don't worry about it." "There's a difference between poking and stabbing." Tereya retorted, folding her arms across her chest. "Well with the shit I've had to go through because you can't control whatever the fucks inside you, I don't fucking care." Nori snapped, scowling back at her. "Well, god damn!" Tereya threw her hands up in the air, gritting her teeth whenever she stopped speaking. "I'm sorry that I had the intelligence that an infant would have when I got experimented on! I'm sorry that I was despairing when all of my friends got eaten alive by fucking birds! I'm sorry that I, nothing more than a fucking child, didn't have the mentality of a soldier to withstand my Hollow! Is THAT what you want me to say, damn it?!" "What about now!? Why can't you do it now?!" Nori screamed back, taking intimidating steps toward her. "Do you think I enjoy holding your disembodied arm? Do you think I enjoy going for a swim in an ocean of blood? Do you think I enjoy having my head fucked with while I'm sleeping?! I don't care what it was like back then, why can't you withstand it NOW?!" The ferocity he displayed... it was nothing like she had seen from him before. For the first time in reality, fear came across her face, and she took in a deep breath. She immediately took the same number of steps back when he stepped forward, heart racing. The fire in her mind was immediately doused by nothing but pure ice. She couldn't even come back with a comment of her own. She lowered her head, hair hiding her expression. It didn't matter what she came up with... because those words were all true. Why couldn't she? Because she was much too weak. "....don't bother coming with me. Go back to your little house and sleep." She muttered, weakness in that tough tone of hers. She turned around, shuffling forward and away from him. She remembered the words he had said before; he would not hesitate to kill her if the Hollow took over. And, just then, he had demanded of her why couldn't she control it on her own? It was very obvious now. "He won't help you escape from your prison." She barely even recognized the voice of her satisfied monster as she walked away. "...." Nori continued to follow anyway. He was still pissed. But he wasn't going to do anything, and he still cared about her. The only thing keeping him from apologizing, was that she never seemed to like it if he did. When he did it in the forest, when he woke up, he threatened her. So he would no longer apologize. He wouldn't regret anything he did. And, while that would, undoubtably, make things worse, it seemed to be what she wanted, so it was what he would do. He would still take her home when she was done with whatever she was going to do. And he would still love her when this was all over. "I said not to follow me, damn it!" Tereya snapped, whirling back around. "Having you near me right now is just going to piss me off even more! LEAVE!" Nori looked hurt. She didn't want him near her anymore...? Even after she invited him to come? Why did he have to be so stupid? "I... I'm sorry..." Once again, she turned and walked off briskly, without a word of acknowledgement for his apology. He stood there and watched her shrink into the distance. So she hated him now. Turning around slowly, he took long, painful steps back towards the house. Maybe he should just leave... It was clear she didn't want him anymore anyway. Reunion Walking around the trees casually, Envy saw Nori entering his place and waved with a beaming smile. She was honestly glad to see him. It's been a while since the whole incident with them and the invasion so she hasn't seen or heard from any of them in a while after settling down. Nori ignored her. He wasn't in a good mood, and, if anything, she'd probably make it even worse. Why didn't she just go see Tereya? They could PMS together and leave him the fuck alone. Had he not noticed her? She waved again hoping to catch his sight. But wait... they're in the middle of a forest! How the hell WOULDN'T he notice her? Nori entered his 'house' and crawled onto the wooden slab he called a bed. Closing his eyes, he waited to fall asleep. He couldn't wait to fall asleep. It'd be nice to sit in nothing again. She puffed her cheeks angrily while stamping her foot. She was not going to stand for such mistreatment. She stomped over to his door and knocked on it. Since there was no doornob, the door opened rather easily when she knocked on it, revealing the bare inside of what he called a home, as well as the resting Nori. He would wait here until Tereya got back. There was no point in even acknowledging Envy; he had no idea why she was here. She looked angrily at him "What the hell, Nori? I come all the way here to meet you and you're ignoring me!?" "I'm not in the mood, Envy." Nori growled. He sat up and glared at her. She smirked "Rough night, huh?" "Not really. It's none of your buisiness. You can go away now." Nori said dully, laying back down. He was going to ignore her from now on. If she said something, he wouldn't answer her. She scoffed "How typical, always getting upset at people who aren't the cause of your problems." She walked off toward wherever. She didn't care. He didn't care, despite her hopes. ---- A forest, with lushious and seemingly healthy trees. It seemed like it was fall again, as the leaves seemed to scatter the ground as well as cover the branches of the redwood. A gentle, and seemingly permanent wind blew, constantly keeping the branches moving and the leaves blowing in every which direction. The ground itself was nothing but cracked earth, the grass having died long ago. It was here that Tereya was sitting, under the shade of one of these trees, holding what looked like a small cup. She was sitting also beside several gravestones, exactly 12 in number. She held up the cup. "A toast to all of you lucky bastards who got to where they were before I did." She muttered, before lifting the cup up to her lips and drinking. Envy saw the girl drinking next to some gravestones and walked over to her. Whoever she was, maybe she could console her on her dead friends or relatives. Tereya's eyes immediately drifted towards the woman, but she quirked an eyebrow upon who it was. Who was this strange woman? Certainly, she didn't seem like one of Nori's friends.... far too perky. "Hm?" She muttered. "Hasn't your mommy ever told you to stay away from depressed drunks, sweetheart?" She questioned boredly, though she did nothing to stop the woman from walking to her. She smiled sweetly. What a strange person. Here she was, blatantly revealing herself to be a sad drunkard. Oh well, she'd still help unless the woman really got on her nerves, much like Nori did. "I was just seeing if you wanted to talk. You seem lonely out here." Tereya chuckled. "Nah. I've been visiting this place for a few years now." She explained, raising her free hand out in order to motion towards the environment. "All 12 of these graves are stuffed with the rotting corpses of my friends. But their souls are free, into wherever they're headed off to...." She tilted her head back and laughed at her own statement. "Tch. I must sound like a god damn hippie, right?" She joked, taking another sip of the liquid she held in her cup. Envy smiled back nervously "Well not really. Quite touching, honestly." Tereya lowered her head back, raising an eyebrow once again towards Envy. "My name's Tereya." She introduced herself, setting the cup down. "Yours?" This woman didn't seem like the type to piss her off. Definitely too pure. She could deal with that. Envy smiled. "Evey. Nice to meet you." A sly smile came across Tereya's face. "Likewise." She said in reply. "What brings you here? Other than the fact that you probably saw a depressed drunk out of me." It was apparent that the whole depressed thing was out of the question now, whether if it had already been before Evey came, or the fact that she had graced the Vizard with her presence. Envy smirked "Was just leaving the company of a rude ass guy I know." Tereya looked rather bemused and thoughtful at the comment. "Funny..." She remarked, turning back to face forward. "I went here after an argument with my fiance... he was joking about digging up these guys. Really pissed me off." She thought it was best to not mention the parts about her arguing about the mental torture that Hollow had put them both through. Envy nods "I see. Sounds like an asshole." "What was the name of your guy?" She gave a disgusted look "Nori..." Wait a minute. The bored eyes of Tereya immediately widened, and she turned to look back up at Evey in amazement. "Haruo Nori?" She questioned, unable to keep her expression's emotion from her voice. She wanted to make sure that she had heard correctly. Envy looked back at her in amazement "Y-Yeah... You know him?" Things were starting to add up. "Course I know him!" Tereya, looking slightly indignant at the remark, lifted a thumb to point at her self. "He's my fiance!" Envy's eyes widened "So you're the one he told me about. Nice to meet you." "....he told you about me?" Slowly, Tereya shifted her sitting position to where she would be facing Envy. "That's odd. He never told me anything about you..." Her look of bemusement had a hint of suspicion in it. "Though, he did mention him having friends..." She sighed "My real name is Envy. I was a Cardinal and overseer for Nori when he was a Hell-Hunter, back when Bael was in power." "....Ok. You've got my full attention." Tereya declared, raising her hands up in mock surrender for a moment to emphasize. She could now guess a story was coming to her, after this set of unknown names came to her ears. Cardinal? Bael? Nori had never mentioned it before. She explained "Bael was the ruler of Hell who had lured Nori into being a Hell-Hunter. As a Cardinal, I was left in charge of him at the time. But ever since the rebellion we Cardinals and Hell-Hunters were bannished for being spawn of Bael." Tereya could barely stifle a chuckle. "Oh, so he was your bitch?" She concluded laughingly, using a hand to cover her mouth. "Well, now, I guess I have something new to torture him with. But this rebellion..." She turned serious in a heartbeat. "Was it the Hell-Hunters and these Cardinals against.... the forces of Hell?" She could safely sum it up to that. "You guys lost the fight and got banished down here? Shit.... sounds like Greek mythology all over again..." She smiled while blushing a little in embarrassment "Well... all the Hell-Hunters and me verses the forces of Hell. And we won, it's just... Lord Fukienzeru didn't want us around anymore." "Oh. I'm takin' it this Lord was on your side?" Envy shrugged "Somewhat." Tereya half-lidded her eyes and looked away in annoyance. "Must've sucked to get thrown away like that." She sympathized. "I would've loved to kick that fucker's ass if I saw him." Envy clarified "Her ass." "That just makes it better!" Envy chuckled to herself. Nori's fiance' was funny. And thankfully, she made a new friend today. "Say..." Tereya took the moment of silence to look over the woman that loomed over her, before she allowed herself to stand up. "You said before that you fought with the Hell-Hunters..." She commented. "But you look more like a suit-and-tie business woman rather than a person who'd step in an arena. And you seem too.... perky." She smirked "I can be tough when I wanna be. Just ask Nori about his foot." This caused Tereya to quirk an eyebrow. "What if I wanna ask you instead?" She countered. Envy raised a brow in turn "Okay...?" Was she picking a fight with Envy? The corner of Tereya's mouth curled in a small smirk at the reaction. She promptly dusted herself off, down to the knees. "What did you do to Princess's foot?" She asked immediately as she did so. This would probably be interesting... Envy smiled beamingly in pride "I stomped on it, crushing several toes." "....you suck." Promptly, Tereya stopped, putting her hands on her hips. Her expression looked quite skeptical and disapproving. "I mean, shove one of his own legs up his ass, pull his eyeballs out and leave 'em hanging from the nerve strands, and all you did was step on his toes? Pfft..." She rolled her eyes. "What a pity." Envy gave a comically wide-eyed expression. "Geez, is this woman psychotic?!" "But, still..." Tereya shrugged nonchalantly. "I think I'm beginnin' to like you, honey." She switch her arms' position to fold them across her chest. "Anyone who picks on Nori is a friend of mine. Speaking of which..." She started to walk slowly, past Envy. "Might as well check up on the guy to see if he's out of his emo stage yet." Envy turned to her "Nope. Believe me, I checked." "Well, then, I'll just have to bring him out. Care to come along?" Envy nervously nodded "Sure..." She hoped not too much violence would come of this. ---- Nori shifted on the 'bed'. It was nice being in nothing again! Nothing was happening! Tereya wasn't here to bother him, Envy wasn't being a huge bitch, and she wasn't here to ruin his sleep! "Nnnnn..." Nori mumbled. This 'bed' was uncomfortable... Maybe he should make some straw and sleep on that..? Or put some grass on the bed... Either way, he had to make it softer. But it was time for sleep now. It was too unfortunate that his troubles were coming right through his door. Literally. WHAM! The door was slammed open, courtesy of Tereya's foot. It revealed her in a finishing kick pose, one leg raised towards the door, and the other on the ground in perfect balance. Promptly, she lowered her foot and stepped inside. "Hey, Princess! We're home!" She called out. Envy walked in nervously "Dear god, she just broke down their fucking door!" Nori stirred slightly in the bed. He was still asleep; it'd take more than that to wake him up, but he was on the brink of consciousness. His sleeping figure was easily visible to the two who had just entered. She, however, wasn't deterred. She walked over to him, performing a full-body leap over him and onto the bed in a crouched position. She reached for his head, sliding her hand under the back of it. Leaning forward a little, she hit his forehead with her own, just enough so that his brain would get a head start. "C'mon. Wake your ass up, or I'm going to find something else to wake you. And you're not gonna like it." She stated bluntly. Nori's eyes opened, then widened, as his mouth formed an incredibly profuse frown. Why was she waking him up like this? Well, for one, it was obvious that she wanted him to blush (which he was), but wasn't she still mad at him? He was paralyzed, unable to move. But he was awake. "I'm awake." Nori stated, despite making the sentence before this one slightly redundant, and that he was pointing out the obvious. "No, you're not." Immediately, she dropped his head back onto the bed with an abrupt jerk of her hand. "Now you are." She corrected, jumping back off of the bed. Envy, all the while, watched in utter shock at her brutal methods of waking him up. "N-now I am..." Nori repeated quietly, sitting up on the bed while rubbing the back of his head. Once Tereya returned to her position of standing on the "entrance" of the bed, she folded her arms across her chest. "I thought about what you said, while I was saying my words to the deceased." She said calmly, getting straight to the point of the situation. "You asked me why I couldn't stop my Hollow for doing what she did, right?" Nori looked the other way sadly. So she was still mad about it. "I... I didn't mean it... I'm sorry..." He mumbled. She didn't have to persecute him about it. However, the woman would have none of it. She raised her hand up. "Don't apologize. You were right." She stated, before lowing her arm. "I thought I quelled it long ago when I put on the mask. But now, I see I have a lot of work to cover up before I actually get anywhere." She put on a weak, but genuine smile. "Thanks for knocking some sense into my head." Nori looked up, eyes dulled. "If you're happy I said it then why did you go on your period back there and tell me to fuck off?" He retorted semi-nastily, sliding off the bed and into a hunched standing position. "Because you had driven a nail where it hurt." Tereya countered easily. "Would you like it if I started joking about your past like that?" "No..." Nori admitted sullenly, diverting his gaze back to the floor. "I thought not... but sorry I blew up on you like that." Another surprise; she was not being sarcastic, for once. In spite of himself, her fiance perked up slightly. "Good. Now, if you'll excuse me..." He mumbled, crawling back onto the wooden slab he'd grown so accustomed to. "I'm going to go back to sleep. Goodnight!" Immediately, Nori's back turned to them. Inwardly he was giggling. Everything was happy now! Tereya rolled her eyes, before looking over at Envy. "I'll be leaving for a minute. You coming along, or staying with the hibernating bear?" She asked the woman. Envy smirked at her "I think I'll go with you." "All right, then. I'll lead the way...?" It wasn't a question. Tereya had walked back out through the door and walking at a steady pace. Once she could feel Envy coming up to follow her, a smile, hidden from the other woman's vision, came to her face. Her back being turned towards Envy, the other woman didn't notice her eyes shifted to a brief yellow, before returning back to their spot. She would almost feel sorry for leading her on like this. Almost. The End